A tough-as-nails businesswoman. An arrogant Navy SEAL. A power struggle with no end in sight. She's driven and demanding... I wasn't always this way. There's a dirty little trick to succeeding in business: the sweet and innocent rarely survive. I fought my way up from nothing and I don't bend for anyone. Until Will Halsted makes me his...for now. One wild night turns into another, and then...we can't stop. Each time we're together is more addictive than the last, but it's nothing more than an escape from reality. He's never walked away from a challenge... I wasn't always a warrior but now it's in my bones and blood. That's what years spent in the Special Forces does to a man. My entire life is classified: where I've been, what I've seen, what I've done, and there's no mission too dangerous. Until I realize that falling for Shannon Walsh is like trying to swim against a riptide. She's going to tear me up and toss me to the shore, and I'll love every minute of it. Every time I'm down range, I want her counting the hours until I'm back. Waiting for me. She's done it before; she'll do it again.

“The Corner Stone,” is inspired by the actual recent discovery of diamond matter which shifts the recognized advent of life on Earth back nearly a billion years. Commonalities between Asher Feldman (a surly, Jewish geochronology Ph.D. candidate from a long line of New York diamond dealers) and Brooke Jensen (a peculiar, old-money anthropology masters student from Minnesota) are seemingly limited to social reticence, short stature, high I.Q., and an academic focus on diamonds. But the collaboration which ensues after their happenstance introduction results in witty banter, agonizing sexual tension, and an exploration of the bridge between the scientific and mystical powers of the most universally revered material on the planet. A framework of complicated family dynamics and history, fraught with Holocaust survival guilt, diverse relationships, and colliding cultures, provides the canvas for this unusual tale of love between social misfits which is enhanced but not bogged down by scientific inquiry.

Satisfying the yearning of modern man for inner security.

It was 1816 and mighty hard for a sixteen years old man to reconcile himself to having no family. Pa was somewhere in the mountains trapping beaver and Ma had just died. As far as Lew Wilson knew there were no other relatives; nothing left for him to do but go west looking for Pa. If Lew had known what troubles and trials awaited him, maybe he'd just have stayed put, hitched up the oxen and started to plow. Henry, a black runaway slave, the same age as Lew, longs for revenge against the devils who cut out his tongue, whipped him unmercifully and left him for dead. The two young men are launched into an extensive training program, designed to prepare them for dangers in the western wilderness, by a mysterious woman who demands nothing except complete dedication. Over three years time they grow into strong competent fighters, equipped with skills far beyond average western adventurers. When these two meet and become fast friends, the fur flies and they make their own adventures before riding into the west to find their destiny.

Using classroom photographs, forms, and dialogue examples, "The Cornerstone" shows how to design instructional routines that facilitate learning.